It’s AI Appreciation Day on July 16 and we’re all left wondering who asked for this. In name, it’s about as serious as the marketing stunts that gave us gems like National Hot Dog Day or National Doughnut Day. In practice, the day calls for the intentional recognition of “the most consequential technology in human history” instead of simply claiming some free food like with other fake holidays. While we can acknowledge the impact that AI has made on society and industries so far, it doesn’t warrant its own day of dedication.

Going off the website, the proper way to celebrate AI Appreciation Day includes suggestions like “thank a person who builds or maintains AI,” “talk to a child or skeptic about it,” “sign the pledge and put the day on your calendar.” As satirical as these ideas sound, they’re apparently very much real recommendations. 

We should be embracing the human experience instead of celebrating this AI slop of an excuse for a holiday. Instead of putting AI front and center for a day, you can support a local artist by buying some of their work, you can swim in a natural body of water before it’s forever impacted by data centers powering AI or you can catch up with old friends instead of burning through tokens with an AI chatbot. These are just a few tangible things that we should be appreciating on July 16, instead of AI.